The Samikhsya Bureau
NEW DELHI: Seven Indian states have seen an upsurge in daily new cases causing much concern for the Centre that has deputed high level teams for an on the spot assessment of the Covid situation.
The states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have recorded a rise in daily new cases.
16,738 new daily cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours, as per the update released by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
89.57% of the new cases are from these states.
Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,807. It is followed by Kerala with 4,106 while Punjab reported 558 new cases.
The Centre has deputed high-level multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir (UT) to ascertain reasons for the surge and coordinate with the State Health Departments in Covid control and containment measures, the Ministry updated.
The Centre has also written to States/UTs to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission.
The States/UT have been advised to increase testing in a focused manner in the affected districts with the appropriate split of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests and to also ensure that all symptomatic negatives of antigen tests are compulsorily tested via RT-PCR tests.
The positive persons are to be promptly isolated or hospitalised, all their close contacts be traced and also tested without delay. They have been advised to critical review the emerging situation on a regular basis with concerned District officials to ensure that gains made so far in COVID management are not lost.
